DJ SPOOKY'S REBIRTH OF A NATION

The Charge

The Case

D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation is a proverbial landmine film, one
that is cinematically groundbreaking and influential as it is hateful and
degenerating. It is impossible to discuss without putting one's weight upon it
and having shrapnel tear you asunder. For better or worse, it is the first
Hollywood blockbuster, a film of massive scope that thrilled audiences and
incited riots back in 1915 when it debuted to both praise and condemnation.
Also, in case you haven't heard, it is really, really racist. It is a
challenging film to discuss in the open, because praising it in any way kind of
makes you feel dirty -- the kind of dirt that doesn't come off.

Enter DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, noted ambient hip-hop musician and
instrumentalist with DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation, a "cinematic
remix" of the controversial American cinematic piece. Like a DJ attacks
vinyl records with two turntables and a mixer, DJ Spooky sets out to attack
Birth of a Nation, updating it for modern times, giving it the historical
and social context required to appreciate its glories and condemn its flaws.
Originally commissioned as a live multimedia performance, the idea of this
project sounds fantastic: a DJ-centric mix of an inflammatory yet historically
relevant film copied and pasted and scratched to deconstruct its base elements.
How cool is that? DJ Spooky makes some pretty bodacious music, so I was
extremely excited to see what a creative fellow could do to such an inflammatory
piece of American cinema.

DJ Spooky has taken the original Birth of a Nation, added a
decorative frame on the outside, set it to ambient hip-hop and narrates talking
points all over the silent film, essentially turning a dramatic narrative film
into a documentary about race relations. It all has the feel of an undergraduate
thesis in film theory set to film, a verbal essay paired with the film itself as
the narrator drones on about the various techniques utilized by Griffith to
manipulate his audiences. Outside of a few color filters and doodles drawn on
the screen, there is nothing "remixed" about this film; it is simply
Birth of a Nation with a better soundtrack.

So why bother with the "remix"? The ideas put forth by the
narrator run crosswise against the narrative, challenging viewers to delve into
the more controversial racial aspects of Griffith's film -- which is good in
principle. We get a detailed breakdown of how the film portrays race, both
directly and indirectly, and suggestions as to how these tropes have persisted
throughout American society today. The points are argued well, albeit extremely
heavy handedly in the condemnation of Griffith and his work, making it (almost
impossibly) more racist, more hateful, and more disturbing than many would
originally infer. It is an aggressive take on an aggressive film, a heavy handed
approach to a film laden with manipulation, historical revisionism, and shameful
displays of racism.

I do applaud the good intentions that went into a remix project applied to
cinema. This is a fantastic idea in its own right, but so much more could have
been done here. Rebirth of a Nation fails to achieve anything of note
beyond its pedigree and a few talking points of note. The narrative overdubs
discussing the flagrant racism, manipulation of historic events, and cinematic
techniques counterbalance Griffith's original cinematic intentions to glorify
the rise of white Southern power, but in such a painfully academic and preachy
way. What little it adds to the original could be lifted note from note from a
first-year university class on film theory and civil rights. The ideas put forth
here are not particularly original, and adding a few colored filters does not a
"remix" make.

Where the film goes astray is how feverishly it argues the importance of
Griffith's film in defining the last hundred years of American relations
vis-à-vis whites and blacks. Birth of a Nation is an important work
to be sure, one of notable historical importance (for its inaccuracies as much
as its accuracies). However, its influence on popular culture is all but
forgotten, save for history buffs or film theory nerds. For the most part, the
film stays on point, but on occasion, the suggestions made in Rebirth of a
Nation borderline on the absurd -- akin to suggesting that Triumph of the
Will made every white person who watched it into an Aryan superman. Hint: it
didn't.

By modern standards, Birth of a Nation is a downright hateful and
anachronistic film, full of shameful stereotypes and overt racism, all of which
should be immediately obviously to anyone who watches it. Why we need somebody
holding our hand along the way, telling us how racist Birth of a Nation
is beyond me. The film is plenty inflammatory on its own, and that's okay! Do we
really need somebody trying to make the argument that Birth of a Nation
can be cited as an influence to the U.S. government's mishandling of Hurricane
Katrina? Honestly? That's a stretch. If you can't watch Birth of a
Nation, warts and all, and draw your own conclusions, then you've got some
problems, my friend. You shouldn't need DJ Spooky to tell you otherwise.

Aside from the anamorphic presentation framing the original full-frame
source material, Rebirth of a Nation offers an expectedly bad visual
presentation of a crotchety old film -- print damage is rampant, scratches are
plentiful, etc., but it looks no worse than other DVD copies of Birth of a
Nation. Where the disc shines is in the audio, offering DJ Spooky's
pleasantly moody and moving score in full surround 5.1 and stereo. The surround
is punchy yet mellow, offering nice bass response and excellent full mixing into
rear channels. The score does not always mesh with the film from a thematic
standpoint, but DJ Spooky's music is too good to be denied -- a standalone
soundtrack would be fantastic. The only supplement included is an entirely
superfluous audio commentary with director/writer/creator Paul D. Miller, a.k.a.
DJ Spooky, who speaks intelligently and passionately about his motivations for
creating the remix. It is a good commentary all told, but it boils down to more
of the same -- we already get Miller narrating the film itself, dropping
knowledge every few seconds here and there. In case that gets boring, now you
have another audio channel of him doing...more of it!

As a groundbreaking remix project, Rebirth of a Nation fizzles, but
the point-counterpoint fact-checking make for an intriguing intellectual
exercise for cinema lovers. DJ Spooky's "remix" may fail outright in
living up to a "creative reworking," but since it is admittedly quite
difficult to tell people that Birth of a Nation is a must-see film
without sounding like a douchebag, it's nice to have a viable alternative. And
with a better soundtrack to boot!

Since the core of the film has for the most part been left alone, one can
watch Rebirth of a Nation and get both experiences simultaneously: D.W.
Griffith's original, controversial-yet-impressive cinematic creation, and DJ
Spooky's educational primer on how Griffith made everyone in America an asshole
for the next hundred years.